Educators’ Vision Social Equality Educators SEE October 2011 Educators’ Vision Social Equality Educators SEE October 2011

Published By the Social Equality Educators (SEE)

Educators’ VisionVolume 2, Issue 2, October 2011

Social Equality Educators

New Member FormToday’s Date ____/____/_____

Membership dues for SEE are $35 for SPS teachers, $20 for parapros and retired teachers. Associate (non-voting) members, who are not part of SPS, pay $20. Make checks out to “Social Equality Educators”.

Name: _____________________________________________________

Position (teacher, parapro, etc.) __________________________________

School Name: _______________________________________________

Area: ___________________________________ SEA Rep? yes n no n

Cell Phone: _________________________________________________

Email (Non-SPS preferred): _____________________________________

Home Address (include city & zip): _______________________________ ___________________________________________________________

Home Phone: ________________________________________________

Please fill out the following:

1. How do you feel about working with SEE in the next few months?

n I’ll do what I can n Not sure n Can’t right now

2. Which of your skills/interests would you like to put to use for SEE?

n Planning events and/or finding/donating goods/services (like copying, food, etc.)

n Making phone/e-mail/in-person contacts with teachers/parents/ students

n Being on an action phone or e-mail tree to mobilize members

n Organizing within your community/school to increase awareness and SEE event participation

n Data entry

n Research/Writing/Media

n Blog monitoring and posting

n Photography/Videography/Graphic design/visual arts

n Other (please specify): __________________________________

3. How did you first hear about SEE?

n Word of mouth/friend/personal contact n website

n Other News Sources n Union

n Other (where?): ________________________________________

Please visit www.SeattleSEE.org or call 206.962.1685 for more information.

What We Stand ForA Strong Contract We believe that a strong contract provides competitive compensation, adequate learn-ing environments and basic job protections to the membership. A strong contract also promotes proven educational methods. A strong contract can only be won by mobilizing, educating and using feedback from the membership. The contract should always be ratified using the most democratic of methods that allows ample time for debate, discussion, and reflec-tion by the membership.

A member-driven union We believe that a member driven union is one that is constantly encouraging the participation of more educators, and that fosters transparency and accountability of the elected leader-ship.

Oppose the Corporate Education Reform Agenda We oppose the major initiatives embodied in the Race to the Top (RTTT) program that relies on mar-ket-based approaches for our schools. Therefore, we oppose privatizing influence of charter schools that drain desperately needed funds from public schools. We oppose merit pay and other initiatives that seek to define teaching and learning through curriculum narrowing/culturally biased standardized tests.

Full Funding/Funding Equity Washington State has been ruled in court to be in violation of the Basic Education Funding Act. We demand that the state fully fund the schools, using a method that creates funding equity across school districts.

Culturally relevant curriculum/ holistic education We believe in curriculum that reflects the needs and desires of the community that the school serves. For to long, the dominant pedagogy has not adequately represented working-class children and children of color. All students should have the opportunity to learn about their culture. As well, our schools should not only equip students with the basic knowledge of the core subjects, but also help them develop skills such as civic courage, leadership, teamwork and social responsibility, to help them better understand their world and their collective self-interest.

Building alliances The Social Equality Educators see natural allies in parents, students, progressive educa-tion community advocates, and other unions in labor movement. We seek to strengthen these alliances through a sincere dialogue about how to improve education and by building common struggles to defend each other’s interests.

Victory for Tacoma teachers

Stay informed while saving trees: sign up to

get Educators’ Vision news, articles and announce-ments in a paperless elec-tronic format — online at www.seattlesee.org.

September 27, 2011

After10 days on the picket line in defiance of judge’s order, Tacoma teachers fended off a pay cut and

attacks on the union’s seniority protections to win a contract that bucks the concessionary trend in teach-ers’ union settlements across the U.S.

The teachers, members of the Tacoma Education Association (TEA), voted September 22 by a margin of 98.9 percent to ratify the tentative agreement with Tacoma Public Schools (TPS) and return to work.

The agreement was reached a day earlier after union and TPS negotiators met for hours in the state capital of Olympia, with Gov. Christine Gregoire mediating.

If Gregoire felt pressure to intervene, it’s in part because of the widespread community and labor support for the strike. Members of other unions, such as the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, United Food and Commercial Workers and Washington Federation of State Employees were present at picket lines in support as well. National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel recorded a message of support [1] for Tacoma teachers.

As Fred Garnsey, a fourth grade teacher at Arlington Elementary, said:

NEA is the largest union in the United States, and as such is in the forefront [facing] attacks to eliminate collective bargaining and free up corporate adminis-trations to do whatever they want, whether it be to hire and fire without any justification. This is a microcosm of what’s happening nationwide in different states.

The TEA came up with creating ways of publi-cizing the struggle, including a website called WeTeachTacoma.org. Comments on the website from people supporting the strike came in not only from Tacoma and the surrounding area, but as far away as Wisconsin and Indiana.

The TEA also distributed a regular flyer to picketers called On the Line, which informed strikers of new developments and picket location changes, while pro-viding talking points for union members. A group of teachers organized a group that cycled from picket to picket, earning a rousing cheer at each location.

Protests were critical to the struggle as well. After voting by 93 percent on September 14 to defy a judge’s back-to-work order [2], thousands of teachers and students ral-lied the following day, completely encircling the school district’s Central Administration Building.

Support for the strike was strong throughout. Students organized a Facebook group to back their teachers and rallied at the Tacoma Dome to support teachers when they voted to defy the court order. Hundreds of stu-dents chanted, “Teacher Power” and formed a gauntlet of high fives for teachers to walk through.

The Tacoma teachers’ strike shows that it’s possible to stand up against school districts and corporate

reform groups’ attempts to shred due process and bal-ance budgets on our backs.

“We haven’t gone on strike in 33 years,” said TEA President Andy Coons. “We didn’t go into this lightly.

Get active with other progressive educators in your union!Come check out these two upcoming Social Equality Educator events:

2 Happy Hour With an Attitude:

A social space for activist teachers

On the last Friday of every month, come unwind from the busy week and meet other educators who want to stand up to the attacks on public education.

Where: Twilight Exit, 2514 E Cherry St ., Seattle, WA 98122

Phone: 206.324.7462

When: Starting at 3 p.m.

Next happy hour: Friday, October 28th. SEE you there!

1 Social Equality Educators invites

all SEA represented employees to:

Seattle School Board Candidates Forum

The general public, including SEA members, are invited to participate in a meeting with all School Board Candidates. 

This is an important opportu-nity to hear about competing visions for the Seattle Public Schools.    

When: Thursday, October 20th, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Where: Seattle University’s  Pigott Auditorium

3 You are invited to the next SEE

Meeting!

When: Sat., Nov. 5th 12 p.m.

Where:Jesse Hagopian’s

House—

3223 S. Hanford St. 98144

For more information go to:

www.seattlesee.org

or e-mail at: info@seattlesee.

org

or call 206.851.4963

Dan Trocolli, a member of the Seattle Education Association, reports on the wide-spread implications of a victory by Tacoma public school teachers.

Victory for Tacoma teachers • continued on page 2

Educators’ Vision Social Equality Educators SEE October 2011 Educators’ Vision Social Equality Educators SEE October 2011

Educators’ Vision

Published By the Social Equality Educators (SEE)

Volume 2, Issue 2,

October 2011

SEE steering commit-tee: Eric Muhs, India Carlson, Dan Trocolli, Marian Wagner, Matt Carter, Jesse Hagopian.

Educators’ Vision is a monthly newsletter of the Social Equality Educators

www.seattlesee.org

info@seattlesee.org

Mission

Social Equality Educators (SEE) is a new rank-and-

file organization of educators inside the Seattle Education Association that seeks to transform education in terms that empower students, teachers, and the communi-ties that our public schools serve. As members of the SEA we understand that the educator’s union has a vital role to play in creating an equitable education system. As educators we understand the importance of using culturally relevant and holistic curriculum to empower our students. We have come together to fight against the corporate reform of our schools and to organize for a socially just education system.

Daily Protests and an ongoing park occupation in the financial district of New York City are gaining

growing national attention as an expression of anger against Wall Street greed. Protesters have dubbed this new movement “Occupy Wall Street” and have raised the slogan “We are the 99 percent”, to shine a light on the fact that the richest one percent in America have stolen the wealth of society, either through receiving bailout money after their banks collapsed, or from unequal tax codes that allow the most prosperous to pay at a lower rate than working people. In New York on October 5, several major unions threw their support behind the Occupy Wall Street movement and tens of thousands of people marched for economic justice.

It Didn’t take long for the spirit of Occupy Wall Street to spread to the streets of cities across the country, with the statement of bailing out Main Street not Wall Street. The protest movement that began in Manhattan’s financial district has inspired people in bigger cities not unfamil-iar to protests, like San Francisco and Seattle, to organize their own actions and encampments, but also smaller cities and towns.

The same mix of people from all walks of life--the un-employed, the underemployed, students facing moun-tains of debt, and union members enduring an assault on their living standards--are participating around the country and putting the blame for the economic crisis where it belongs: on the corporations and bankers who continue to profit as the rest of us face cuts.

In Seattle, the occupation began on October 1, with a gen-eral assembly and the beginning of a tent city in Westlake Plaza in the heart of downtown. Then on Saturday October 8th, Seattle’s labor unions joined the Occupy Seattle movement, helping to swell the ranks of the thou-sands who rallied to make the banks pay their fair share.

Occupy Wall Street comes to Seattle

The Social Equality Educators (SEE) injected the Occupy Seattle movement with a message about how the Great Recession and the Wall Street bailout has effected public education. SEE members hold-ing a banner that read, “Bailout The Schools, Not The Banks,” received an overwhelming show of support from protesters and down town pedestrians alike. SEE member Jesse Hagopian rallied the crowed, along with other labor leaders, and argued that our society should prioritize education funding. Hagopian said,

When the economy tanked, Alan Greenspan said this crash of 2008 was the equivalent of a hundred years flood. But it wasn’t a natural disaster. And It’s not the case that some people happen to be rich and others hap-pen to be poor. They are rich because we struggle to get by. The 400 richest people have as much wealth as the bottom 50% of America. That’s not a coincidence. One in six Americans lives below the poverty line because they rich. They are wealthy because 278,000 teachers were laid off last year. But the truth is that we, the 99%, don’t need the 1%. Nurses and doctors can heal the sick, teachers can educate the kids, bus drivers can get us all to work—all without the rich. They need us, we don’t need them.

Victory for Tacoma teachers • continued from page 1

We have a very high strike threshold--80 percent of the entire membership, not just those that turn out for the meeting. It’s unified us. We realize the power of the worker, and that when something is not right, we can stand up, and we can make it right.”

The TEA and the school district disagreed primar-ily over removing seniority from displacement and transfers of teachers, as well as disputes over pay and class size.

Under the agreement that union members approved, seniority protection will remain in place for the first year of the three-year agreement, during which time the district and the union will form a joint committee to explore new criteria for the displacement process.

Initially, TPS sought to cut teachers’ pay, even though the district has $45 million in reserves. Despite a state

cut of 1.9 percent to teacher pay, the union avoided a cut to the salary schedule, losing only one building optional development day. The TEA also protected existing class size limits and strengthened contract language on class size caps for elementary schools.

The district played hardball from the get-go, hiring an outside negotiator, Washington Employers, at a rate of $1,500 a session. On its website [3], Washington Employers describes its services: “We provide a full range of collective bargaining services for member employers with unionized employees, as well as for nonunion employers facing union organizing ef-forts...[including preparing] a strike readiness plan and assisting in maximizing the employer’s ability to withstand a strike with minimal interruption of operation.”

TPS also used robo-calls to get its claims about bargaining out to teachers and the community--many teachers were outraged by what they felt were outright lies about the district and union proposals. The TEA routinely tried to set the record straight at WeTeachTacoma.org.

The school district was being lobbied to make drastic changes in seniority by a group called the Vibrant Schools Tacoma Coalition (VSTC). On its website [4] and elsewhere, VSTC lays out its claims focus without any supporting facts. For example, in a letter to the Tacoma News Tribune on behalf of Vibrant Schools [5], the authors claim that 80 percent of Tacoma voters support a teachers contract that guts seniority protections.

Vibrant Schools, which formed in late April, is a coalition of various local organizations, including the Tacoma chapter of Stand for Children and the Gates Foundation-funded League of Education Voters, both corporate-style “education reform” organizations.

According to the Seattle Education blog [6], which is affiliated with the group Parents Across America Seattle, the domain name for the Vibrant Schools website was registered to someone from Strategies 360/DMA.

Strategies 360 is a marketing firm used last year in Seattle by another Gates-funded group, the Alliance for Education, to conduct a “push-poll”--a supposedly neutral opinion poll designed to “push” respondents toward a particular position--that advocated perfor-mance-based pay for teachers, the anti-union Teach for America program and an end to seniority protections for teachers. The firm then used the push-poll to set up an Astroturf group in Seattle, called the Our Schools Coalition, to support corporate school reform.

Meanwhile, Vibrant Schools also hired an outside firm, EMC Research, to conduct surveys in Tacoma upon which most of its positions are based, though it is unclear how the supposed “grassroots” coalition paid for the polling.

Despite The pressure from the school district and VSTC, union members’ resolve only increased.

It’s clear that the district intends to continue its efforts to undermine the union. For example, according to a letter from TEA President Coons to the Tacoma School Board and district superintendent [7], school officials are violating the amnesty agreement in the contract by withholding all but two days’ pay during the strike from teachers’ October paychecks.

But TEA members say their struggle didn’t end when they voted to approve the contract. In a speech to the association after ratification, Coons quoted Margaret Mead: “Never depend upon institutions or govern-ment to solve any problem. All social movements are

founded by, guided by, motivated and seen through by the passion of individuals.”

Teachers feel they won an important victory, even though the fight to defend seniority rights will con-tinue. Teacher Fred Garnsey reflected the overwhelm-ing sentiment among TEA members after the approval of the contract:

There has to be some flexibility, but there also has to be some safeguards. There needs to be due process for teachers so that they have the opportunity to be men-tored, to improve and at least know why and not be fired for no-cause. Classroom teachers do an awful lot, but they can’t do it all. Just having a teacher in every classroom is not enough. We need support personnel and resources to meet the needs of our students.

TEA members will have to keep their passion alive to ensure that the joint committee on displacement doesn’t succumb to pressure to erode seniority further and keep the district to its word.

Victory for Tacoma teachers • continued on page 3

Victory for Tacoma teachers • continued from page 2

Report from the NW Conference on Teaching for Social Justice:Hundreds of teachers join newest SEE member, Karen Lewis, for a lesson plan on fighting corporate ed reform.

The Northwest Conference on Teaching for Social Justice was a big success this year. Hundreds of teachers

gathered at Chief Sealth high school to participate in the annual Rethinking School sponsored conference. Karen Lewis, the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, kicked off the day. Karen’s message of remaking her union to fight for social justice issues couldn’t have come at a more important time for Northwest teachers who have come under attack from corporate education reform forces. Karen received thunderous applause when she said, “As the business model is brought into the public schools, we get competition instead of collaboration!”

The Social Equality Educators got a boost when Karen Lewis said that she believed in the mission of SEE and became a dues paying member!

Workshops on antiracist curriculum, environmentalist student activities, and union building were all well attended. The Social Equality Educators had volunteers who helped organize the conference, helped out during the day, and presented at three different workshops: “Union Power Can Save Our Schools: Building Resistance to the Education Shock Doctrine,” “Toward Social Justice Unionism: Transforming Teachers’ Unions,” and “Exploring Sustainability Education and Imagining a Better Future with Students—a Facilitated Presentation, Discussion and Skill-Share.”

UPDATE: WeTeachTacoma is reporting that Tacoma school board officials have backed off on their attempt to withhold pay for September from teachers.

Educators’ Vision Social Equality Educators SEE October 2011 Educators’ Vision Social Equality Educators SEE October 2011

Educators’ Vision

Published By the Social Equality Educators (SEE)

Volume 2, Issue 2,

October 2011

SEE steering commit-tee: Eric Muhs, India Carlson, Dan Trocolli, Marian Wagner, Matt Carter, Jesse Hagopian.

Educators’ Vision is a monthly newsletter of the Social Equality Educators

www.seattlesee.org

info@seattlesee.org

Mission

Social Equality Educators (SEE) is a new rank-and-

file organization of educators inside the Seattle Education Association that seeks to transform education in terms that empower students, teachers, and the communi-ties that our public schools serve. As members of the SEA we understand that the educator’s union has a vital role to play in creating an equitable education system. As educators we understand the importance of using culturally relevant and holistic curriculum to empower our students. We have come together to fight against the corporate reform of our schools and to organize for a socially just education system.

Daily Protests and an ongoing park occupation in the financial district of New York City are gaining

growing national attention as an expression of anger against Wall Street greed. Protesters have dubbed this new movement “Occupy Wall Street” and have raised the slogan “We are the 99 percent”, to shine a light on the fact that the richest one percent in America have stolen the wealth of society, either through receiving bailout money after their banks collapsed, or from unequal tax codes that allow the most prosperous to pay at a lower rate than working people. In New York on October 5, several major unions threw their support behind the Occupy Wall Street movement and tens of thousands of people marched for economic justice.

It Didn’t take long for the spirit of Occupy Wall Street to spread to the streets of cities across the country, with the statement of bailing out Main Street not Wall Street. The protest movement that began in Manhattan’s financial district has inspired people in bigger cities not unfamil-iar to protests, like San Francisco and Seattle, to organize their own actions and encampments, but also smaller cities and towns.

The same mix of people from all walks of life--the un-employed, the underemployed, students facing moun-tains of debt, and union members enduring an assault on their living standards--are participating around the country and putting the blame for the economic crisis where it belongs: on the corporations and bankers who continue to profit as the rest of us face cuts.

In Seattle, the occupation began on October 1, with a gen-eral assembly and the beginning of a tent city in Westlake Plaza in the heart of downtown. Then on Saturday October 8th, Seattle’s labor unions joined the Occupy Seattle movement, helping to swell the ranks of the thou-sands who rallied to make the banks pay their fair share.

Occupy Wall Street comes to Seattle

The Social Equality Educators (SEE) injected the Occupy Seattle movement with a message about how the Great Recession and the Wall Street bailout has effected public education. SEE members hold-ing a banner that read, “Bailout The Schools, Not The Banks,” received an overwhelming show of support from protesters and down town pedestrians alike. SEE member Jesse Hagopian rallied the crowed, along with other labor leaders, and argued that our society should prioritize education funding. Hagopian said,

When the economy tanked, Alan Greenspan said this crash of 2008 was the equivalent of a hundred years flood. But it wasn’t a natural disaster. And It’s not the case that some people happen to be rich and others hap-pen to be poor. They are rich because we struggle to get by. The 400 richest people have as much wealth as the bottom 50% of America. That’s not a coincidence. One in six Americans lives below the poverty line because they rich. They are wealthy because 278,000 teachers were laid off last year. But the truth is that we, the 99%, don’t need the 1%. Nurses and doctors can heal the sick, teachers can educate the kids, bus drivers can get us all to work—all without the rich. They need us, we don’t need them.

Victory for Tacoma teachers • continued from page 1

We have a very high strike threshold--80 percent of the entire membership, not just those that turn out for the meeting. It’s unified us. We realize the power of the worker, and that when something is not right, we can stand up, and we can make it right.”

The TEA and the school district disagreed primar-ily over removing seniority from displacement and transfers of teachers, as well as disputes over pay and class size.

Under the agreement that union members approved, seniority protection will remain in place for the first year of the three-year agreement, during which time the district and the union will form a joint committee to explore new criteria for the displacement process.

Initially, TPS sought to cut teachers’ pay, even though the district has $45 million in reserves. Despite a state

cut of 1.9 percent to teacher pay, the union avoided a cut to the salary schedule, losing only one building optional development day. The TEA also protected existing class size limits and strengthened contract language on class size caps for elementary schools.

The district played hardball from the get-go, hiring an outside negotiator, Washington Employers, at a rate of $1,500 a session. On its website [3], Washington Employers describes its services: “We provide a full range of collective bargaining services for member employers with unionized employees, as well as for nonunion employers facing union organizing ef-forts...[including preparing] a strike readiness plan and assisting in maximizing the employer’s ability to withstand a strike with minimal interruption of operation.”

TPS also used robo-calls to get its claims about bargaining out to teachers and the community--many teachers were outraged by what they felt were outright lies about the district and union proposals. The TEA routinely tried to set the record straight at WeTeachTacoma.org.

The school district was being lobbied to make drastic changes in seniority by a group called the Vibrant Schools Tacoma Coalition (VSTC). On its website [4] and elsewhere, VSTC lays out its claims focus without any supporting facts. For example, in a letter to the Tacoma News Tribune on behalf of Vibrant Schools [5], the authors claim that 80 percent of Tacoma voters support a teachers contract that guts seniority protections.

Vibrant Schools, which formed in late April, is a coalition of various local organizations, including the Tacoma chapter of Stand for Children and the Gates Foundation-funded League of Education Voters, both corporate-style “education reform” organizations.

According to the Seattle Education blog [6], which is affiliated with the group Parents Across America Seattle, the domain name for the Vibrant Schools website was registered to someone from Strategies 360/DMA.

Strategies 360 is a marketing firm used last year in Seattle by another Gates-funded group, the Alliance for Education, to conduct a “push-poll”--a supposedly neutral opinion poll designed to “push” respondents toward a particular position--that advocated perfor-mance-based pay for teachers, the anti-union Teach for America program and an end to seniority protections for teachers. The firm then used the push-poll to set up an Astroturf group in Seattle, called the Our Schools Coalition, to support corporate school reform.

Meanwhile, Vibrant Schools also hired an outside firm, EMC Research, to conduct surveys in Tacoma upon which most of its positions are based, though it is unclear how the supposed “grassroots” coalition paid for the polling.

Despite The pressure from the school district and VSTC, union members’ resolve only increased.

It’s clear that the district intends to continue its efforts to undermine the union. For example, according to a letter from TEA President Coons to the Tacoma School Board and district superintendent [7], school officials are violating the amnesty agreement in the contract by withholding all but two days’ pay during the strike from teachers’ October paychecks.

But TEA members say their struggle didn’t end when they voted to approve the contract. In a speech to the association after ratification, Coons quoted Margaret Mead: “Never depend upon institutions or govern-ment to solve any problem. All social movements are

founded by, guided by, motivated and seen through by the passion of individuals.”

Teachers feel they won an important victory, even though the fight to defend seniority rights will con-tinue. Teacher Fred Garnsey reflected the overwhelm-ing sentiment among TEA members after the approval of the contract:

There has to be some flexibility, but there also has to be some safeguards. There needs to be due process for teachers so that they have the opportunity to be men-tored, to improve and at least know why and not be fired for no-cause. Classroom teachers do an awful lot, but they can’t do it all. Just having a teacher in every classroom is not enough. We need support personnel and resources to meet the needs of our students.

TEA members will have to keep their passion alive to ensure that the joint committee on displacement doesn’t succumb to pressure to erode seniority further and keep the district to its word.

Victory for Tacoma teachers • continued on page 3

Victory for Tacoma teachers • continued from page 2

Report from the NW Conference on Teaching for Social Justice:Hundreds of teachers join newest SEE member, Karen Lewis, for a lesson plan on fighting corporate ed reform.

The Northwest Conference on Teaching for Social Justice was a big success this year. Hundreds of teachers

gathered at Chief Sealth high school to participate in the annual Rethinking School sponsored conference. Karen Lewis, the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, kicked off the day. Karen’s message of remaking her union to fight for social justice issues couldn’t have come at a more important time for Northwest teachers who have come under attack from corporate education reform forces. Karen received thunderous applause when she said, “As the business model is brought into the public schools, we get competition instead of collaboration!”

The Social Equality Educators got a boost when Karen Lewis said that she believed in the mission of SEE and became a dues paying member!

Workshops on antiracist curriculum, environmentalist student activities, and union building were all well attended. The Social Equality Educators had volunteers who helped organize the conference, helped out during the day, and presented at three different workshops: “Union Power Can Save Our Schools: Building Resistance to the Education Shock Doctrine,” “Toward Social Justice Unionism: Transforming Teachers’ Unions,” and “Exploring Sustainability Education and Imagining a Better Future with Students—a Facilitated Presentation, Discussion and Skill-Share.”

UPDATE: WeTeachTacoma is reporting that Tacoma school board officials have backed off on their attempt to withhold pay for September from teachers.

Educators’ Vision Social Equality Educators SEE October 2011 Educators’ Vision Social Equality Educators SEE October 2011

Published By the Social Equality Educators (SEE)

Educators’ VisionVolume 2, Issue 2, October 2011

Social Equality Educators

New Member FormToday’s Date ____/____/_____

Membership dues for SEE are $35 for SPS teachers, $20 for parapros and retired teachers. Associate (non-voting) members, who are not part of SPS, pay $20. Make checks out to “Social Equality Educators”.

Name: _____________________________________________________

Position (teacher, parapro, etc.) __________________________________

School Name: _______________________________________________

Area: ___________________________________ SEA Rep? yes n no n

Cell Phone: _________________________________________________

Email (Non-SPS preferred): _____________________________________

Home Address (include city & zip): _______________________________ ___________________________________________________________

Home Phone: ________________________________________________

Please fill out the following:

1. How do you feel about working with SEE in the next few months?

n I’ll do what I can n Not sure n Can’t right now

2. Which of your skills/interests would you like to put to use for SEE?

n Planning events and/or finding/donating goods/services (like copying, food, etc.)

n Making phone/e-mail/in-person contacts with teachers/parents/ students

n Being on an action phone or e-mail tree to mobilize members

n Organizing within your community/school to increase awareness and SEE event participation

n Data entry

n Research/Writing/Media

n Blog monitoring and posting

n Photography/Videography/Graphic design/visual arts

n Other (please specify): __________________________________

3. How did you first hear about SEE?

n Word of mouth/friend/personal contact n website

n Other News Sources n Union

n Other (where?): ________________________________________

Please visit www.SeattleSEE.org or call 206.962.1685 for more information.

What We Stand ForA Strong Contract We believe that a strong contract provides competitive compensation, adequate learn-ing environments and basic job protections to the membership. A strong contract also promotes proven educational methods. A strong contract can only be won by mobilizing, educating and using feedback from the membership. The contract should always be ratified using the most democratic of methods that allows ample time for debate, discussion, and reflec-tion by the membership.

A member-driven union We believe that a member driven union is one that is constantly encouraging the participation of more educators, and that fosters transparency and accountability of the elected leader-ship.

Oppose the Corporate Education Reform Agenda We oppose the major initiatives embodied in the Race to the Top (RTTT) program that relies on mar-ket-based approaches for our schools. Therefore, we oppose privatizing influence of charter schools that drain desperately needed funds from public schools. We oppose merit pay and other initiatives that seek to define teaching and learning through curriculum narrowing/culturally biased standardized tests.

Full Funding/Funding Equity Washington State has been ruled in court to be in violation of the Basic Education Funding Act. We demand that the state fully fund the schools, using a method that creates funding equity across school districts.

Culturally relevant curriculum/ holistic education We believe in curriculum that reflects the needs and desires of the community that the school serves. For to long, the dominant pedagogy has not adequately represented working-class children and children of color. All students should have the opportunity to learn about their culture. As well, our schools should not only equip students with the basic knowledge of the core subjects, but also help them develop skills such as civic courage, leadership, teamwork and social responsibility, to help them better understand their world and their collective self-interest.

Building alliances The Social Equality Educators see natural allies in parents, students, progressive educa-tion community advocates, and other unions in labor movement. We seek to strengthen these alliances through a sincere dialogue about how to improve education and by building common struggles to defend each other’s interests.

Victory for Tacoma teachers

Stay informed while saving trees: sign up to

get Educators’ Vision news, articles and announce-ments in a paperless elec-tronic format — online at www.seattlesee.org.

September 27, 2011

After10 days on the picket line in defiance of judge’s order, Tacoma teachers fended off a pay cut and

attacks on the union’s seniority protections to win a contract that bucks the concessionary trend in teach-ers’ union settlements across the U.S.

The teachers, members of the Tacoma Education Association (TEA), voted September 22 by a margin of 98.9 percent to ratify the tentative agreement with Tacoma Public Schools (TPS) and return to work.

The agreement was reached a day earlier after union and TPS negotiators met for hours in the state capital of Olympia, with Gov. Christine Gregoire mediating.

If Gregoire felt pressure to intervene, it’s in part because of the widespread community and labor support for the strike. Members of other unions, such as the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, United Food and Commercial Workers and Washington Federation of State Employees were present at picket lines in support as well. National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel recorded a message of support [1] for Tacoma teachers.

As Fred Garnsey, a fourth grade teacher at Arlington Elementary, said:

NEA is the largest union in the United States, and as such is in the forefront [facing] attacks to eliminate collective bargaining and free up corporate adminis-trations to do whatever they want, whether it be to hire and fire without any justification. This is a microcosm of what’s happening nationwide in different states.

The TEA came up with creating ways of publi-cizing the struggle, including a website called WeTeachTacoma.org. Comments on the website from people supporting the strike came in not only from Tacoma and the surrounding area, but as far away as Wisconsin and Indiana.

The TEA also distributed a regular flyer to picketers called On the Line, which informed strikers of new developments and picket location changes, while pro-viding talking points for union members. A group of teachers organized a group that cycled from picket to picket, earning a rousing cheer at each location.

Protests were critical to the struggle as well. After voting by 93 percent on September 14 to defy a judge’s back-to-work order [2], thousands of teachers and students ral-lied the following day, completely encircling the school district’s Central Administration Building.

Support for the strike was strong throughout. Students organized a Facebook group to back their teachers and rallied at the Tacoma Dome to support teachers when they voted to defy the court order. Hundreds of stu-dents chanted, “Teacher Power” and formed a gauntlet of high fives for teachers to walk through.

The Tacoma teachers’ strike shows that it’s possible to stand up against school districts and corporate

reform groups’ attempts to shred due process and bal-ance budgets on our backs.

“We haven’t gone on strike in 33 years,” said TEA President Andy Coons. “We didn’t go into this lightly.

Get active with other progressive educators in your union!Come check out these two upcoming Social Equality Educator events:

2 Happy Hour With an Attitude:

A social space for activist teachers

On the last Friday of every month, come unwind from the busy week and meet other educators who want to stand up to the attacks on public education.

Where: Twilight Exit, 2514 E Cherry St ., Seattle, WA 98122

Phone: 206.324.7462

When: Starting at 3 p.m.

Next happy hour: Friday, October 28th. SEE you there!

1 Social Equality Educators invites

all SEA represented employees to:

Seattle School Board Candidates Forum

The general public, including SEA members, are invited to participate in a meeting with all School Board Candidates. 

This is an important opportu-nity to hear about competing visions for the Seattle Public Schools.    

When: Thursday, October 20th, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Where: Seattle University’s  Pigott Auditorium

3 You are invited to the next SEE

Meeting!

When: Sat., Nov. 5th 12 p.m.

Where:Jesse Hagopian’s

House—

3223 S. Hanford St. 98144

For more information go to:

www.seattlesee.org

or e-mail at: info@seattlesee.

org

or call 206.851.4963

Dan Trocolli, a member of the Seattle Education Association, reports on the wide-spread implications of a victory by Tacoma public school teachers.

Victory for Tacoma teachers • continued on page 2